I was there last fall before the current round of “yellow vest” demonstrations but there were still virtually nonstop demonstrations and work stoppages against Macron and his economic reforms albeit at a smaller scale. Such demonstrations are part of the socal fabric of Paris and have become the norm. In most cases, they are short-term, loud but very peaceful albeit frequently inconvenient. Think of it in terms of Peleg blockades in downtown yerushalyim but substitute farmers and tractors rather than guys in yeshiva lvush. The first 2-3 weeks of the current round of yellow vest demonstrations attracted some anarchist fringe groups who did some window breaking, throwing garbage etc.. (sound familiar?) but in general, the demonstrations over the past few weeks have been peaceful not especially disruptive to the city center tourist districts.

I had a chevruta whose wife is from France. when he went to visit her family he was warned not to wear a kippa in public. He ignored the warning and was physically attacked – once he was almost shoved in front of a subway train. That was 25 years ago. Now it is much worse.

I travel to Paris quite often, I wear my Chassidic gear, not once have I experienced any verbal/physical assault, quite the opposite, people were very friendly & forthcoming helping me with directions, by Metro /bus,

bring a gun, a detective special .38 is small and easily concealed, but doesn’t have a lot of stopping power or accuracy. it is still good for personal defense because those two factors don’t matter very much for personal defense.